For Many, 1990 Smokeout Is a Waste of Breath : Health: The county and firms try to help smokers stop for a day, but observance is spotty.

Obviously, Danielle Dravier’s left hand didn’t know what her right hand was doing during Thursday’s Great American Smokeout.

In one hand, she held a cigarette she was puffing as she walked through the County Government Center in Ventura.

In the other, she held a half-empty bottle of Perrier mineral water.

“Actually, I’m very health-conscious,” Dravier, 41, said. “There’s a lot of natural oxygen in this water.”

As for the cigarette, Dravier, an Oxnard physical therapist, said she can’t kick the habit. And besides, she didn’t realize this was the day the American Cancer Society urged smokers to abstain for at least 24 hours.

“Fourteen years ago, I quit for a while. Then I started smoking two or three cigarettes a day. Now I’m back to a pack a day.”

In a booth in the center, county health workers distributed buttons, apples and “survival kits” containing tips on how to quit smoking. The workers also raffled off a cold turkey--suggesting one way to quit--that was donated by a Ventura market.

Not everybody got the message.

Outside the Hall of Justice, Craig Buschine, 33, an Oxnard psychiatric technician, puffed on a Kool as he waited to be called for jury duty.

“I enjoy smoking,” he said. “I feel the relaxation it gives me outweighs any damage it might do to my health. Besides, I just had a physical, and they told me I’m in perfect shape.”

Ojai auto salesman William E. Williams, 50, said he has smoked two packs a day--sometimes three--since he was 15.

“Let’s face it--it’s a strong habit, like the rest of the drugs, and I’m addicted,” he said.

As for the smokeout, Williams said: “It’s pretty ineffective. Instead of concentrating on people who are addicted, they ought to put more effort into preventing children from getting started.”

Throughout the county, observance of the smokeout--whose theme for the second straight year was “Leave the Pack Behind”--was spotty.

In Thousand Oaks, GT California, one of the county’s largest employers, encouraged workers to adopt smokers, helping them get through the day nicotine-free.

“We distributed survival kits that contained bubble gum and puzzles to help distract smokers,” company spokeswoman Ilona Smith said. “We even threw in swizzle sticks that people could chew on if they really got desperate.”

At Unisys Corp. in Camarillo, human resources representative Connie Engel said no special program was staged, “but we’re making it more and more of a hassle to smoke.”

On Nov. 1, the electronics defense firm issued a memo warning smokers to “stand further away from the building” during breaks, she said. “We banned smoking inside the building some time ago. Now we’re concerned that secondary smoke might blow inside and harm people.”

Lt. Cmdr. Gene Okamoto, public affairs officer at the Navy’s Pacific Missile Test Center at Point Mugu, said no special events were held Thursday, but that the base is pushing an ongoing anti-smoking campaign.

“In line with nationwide Department of Defense policy, no smoking is allowed in any building on the base,” he said. “And quit-smoking classes are offered continually.”

Okamoto said he knew of no statistics regarding smoking among Navy personnel, but that “I see less smoking and more attention to physical fitness among young people joining the Navy now than I did several years ago.”

Jeanne Scott, program director of the Ventura County unit of the cancer society, said about 20,000 students throughout the county received special anti-smoking messages Thursday. Much of the educational drive is being funded by increased tobacco taxes authorized by Proposition 99 in 1988, she added.

“Most of our efforts are aimed at young people,” Scott said. “Eight of the 10 cities in the county have laws requiring larger companies to at least segregate smokers from nonsmokers, so we feel most adults are getting the message anyway.”

Scott added: “The tobacco companies are losing 3,000 smokers a day. They’re trying to make up for that by going after kids and minority members.”

Carlene Maggio, a health educator in the county’s new Tobacco Education and Control Program, said a smokeout drive at Ventura County Medical Center on Thursday resulted in 25 people announcing that they were quitting the habit.

“They were mainly nurses and other employees, as well as some patients,” she said. “I don’t think there were any doctors among them, though. I think all our doctors have already quit.”